


Incompatible

by lightningrani



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3698780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningrani/pseuds/lightningrani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, the strangest creatures are offered the Wizard's Oath. But they don't always see a reason to accept it. </p>
<p>A short speculative piece on what would happen if an orca in Sea World , or somewhere similar, would be offered the Oath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incompatible

_In Life’s Name and for Life’s Sake_ …

The words echoed through the water, and he could not escape it. Even when he performed for the noisy creatures above, who wailed whenever his head breached the waters of his cage. Even when he was praised and fed by the nicer human who made him jump in the air, even when he would rather be swimming in a bigger place. The voice never stopped, and it kept on whispering ideas, ideas which he found confusing.

_I will guard growth and ease pain…_

Pain was his life, as was the lives of the others in this place. They could rarely talk- when they were in the same tank, it was too small to hold a real conversation, and it was hard to hear over the noise of the creatures above. And growth? He didn’t want to grow any more. It was already cramped enough as it was.

Sometimes, when he hit his tail against the edge of his cage, the nicer human would try to help. They inflicted slight pain in order for it to get better. How was that easing pain? Was that even possible?

_I will fight to preserve what grows and lives_ …

The longer he listened to that voice, the song which seemed to find him no matter where he was, the more he could understand the creatures above. They talked about how the noise and space was all done in order to ‘save them’. This was a safer place to live? He didn’t even know a life outside this tank. No, this had been his home since he was a calf.

Who were these people who thought a cage was better than death? How did they think this was preserving life?

… _I will change no object or creature_ …

And yet that was all what his life was about! Why were those creatures, those humans, so obsessed with him jumping through the air or purposely breaching himself onto a false ledge? His whole life was about performance. He knew that was not what he was supposed to do. The song told him that, told him stories about swimming free, hunting for prey, singing with others… A life with a community, not a life playing tricks against his consent.

_I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so._

And these choices which the song told him about were impossible for him to make. Not because he was indecisive, but because he had no ability to make a choice. He could not choose when to eat, or when to act, or when to swim, or even when to procreate. The only choice was death, and that was not really a choice at the end of it.

The song told him of a different future. A future full of opportunities, of adventure, of choices. But that was hard to believe from the cage he swam in. No one he knew was able to escape. And he believed there was no escape. There was no way to change.

Accepting the song would mean believing in hope. And hope in his life doesn’t exist.


End file.
